More NFL teams making move to running back by committee

When the Cincinnati Bengals need a yard, they give the ball to BenJarvus Green-Ellis and let him plow straight ahead. Need a big play on third down? In comes rookie Giovani Bernard to catch a pass or make a cutback that turns into something special.

And the Bengals are far from alone in splitting the role of running back.

Half of the teams in the NFL are using more than one running back regularly this season, underscoring an evolution in how teams are handling the position. Sixteen teams have two or more running backs with 25 runs or catches so far this season, according to STATS LLC.

On many teams, having two complementary backs is better than leaving it up to one.

“The league is just changing in a way,” said Bernard, the first running back chosen in the draft last April. “Rather than one specific back, you need a lot of backs that can do different things.”

Denver, the New York Jets and Giants, Philadelphia, New Orleans, New England, Baltimore, Detroit, Atlanta, Tennessee, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Oakland, Buffalo, San Diego and Houston all have more than one running back that has touched the ball 25 times so far, according to STATS.

Running back combinations have always been part of the NFL's fabric, whether it was Lenny Moore and Alan Ameche in Baltimore, Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung in Green Bay, Jim Brown and Ernie Green in Cleveland, Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo in Chicago, Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Mercury Morris in Miami, Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier in Pittsburgh, Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen in Oakland.

The difference now is that teams are looking not for two who run the ball with different styles, but for a combination that can run it straight ahead or catch it in the league's evolution toward pass-heavy offenses.

“If you have a back that's a one-dimensional, between-the-tackles guy, you can load up (the line of scrimmage) and sure, you've got some play-action that you can do with that, but it's tough sledding,” Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said.

“You like to think you could line up in the I-Formation and Student Body Right and Iso Left — it's tough. I don't think they're totally gone; I think there's still a place for it a little bit. But I think you'll see more of the other.”

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